Pages

Followers

11/30/2014

Welcome to my Sunday afternoon world. The day got off to a late start, but no matter..it's a sunny day, temp is about 67, so quite pleasant. Today is our Christmas Card Club Challenge. It was our sweet Asha's turn to select the theme, which is Silver Bells. {Had just started this post and our internet service went down for a while...so this post was delayed again}
I have a PSX stamp that was perfect for this challenge, but it has decided to hide, so after several efforts searching for it, decided to go with the stamp on this card - it's bells - just not the ones I had in mind :-)

- Great Impressions image stamped with Memento Grey Flannel. Colored with Copics, WoS and a Pentel Gold fine point pen on the hangers & streaked through the greenery. WoS silver made these bells glisten so nicely, but don't think the photo shows it. S/B Standard Tag die cut, edged with DI Antique Linen, then Stormy Sky around the edges.

- Background: Canson #98 Mixed Media paper, sprayed with Dylusions Turquoise mixed with white, then added Lindy's Starburst sprays in blues, greens, along with some golds, silver & pearl oversprays. After drying, a Crafters Companion 8x8 Embossalicious Seasonal Music EF embossed in the Grand Calibur. Have purchased several of the 8x8 size EFs, but don't think I'll buy any more. Because: the GC has to be used for this size - which means moving from its storage, gathering the plates for the sandwich. I have to remember how to use the plates with a folder sandwich. Thought I was going to break the machine as it was difficult to pass the sandwich of: base plate, folder with the mixed media paper, raspberry adapter plate and 2 thin cardboard shims. It did create a lovely effect though!

Please do visit my Christmas Card Club teamies (the links are on the right sidebar) and enjoy their take on the week's challenge of Silver Bells.

Since the card has a few Snippets in the layers - there's a new week over at Pixie's Snippet Playground Week 153, I'm going to jump over to say Hello to my little buddy bear, Parsnip. Parsnip is the guardian of the gates at the Playground. Check it out, why don't you? In the meantime, enjoy the last Sunday of November, 2014. Thanks for joining me this afternoon. Big Hugs.

11/29/2014

Hello & welcome on Saturday afternoon. To update you on my last post: I contacted Amazon via their on-line chat. Thanks to the commenter who suggested contacting Amazon - it reminded me to do just that! I did think over what I wanted to say, as I didn't feel it was Amazon's fault...just that they should be aware that it happened. Dealt with a pleasant lady, who said she understood my frustration, and would make a report of the occurrence. I've purchased from Amazon quite a bit, and this is the first time I've been this aggravated over shipping practices. Supposedly if they get complaints about this kind of vendor policy, they will 'pull the vendor'. ?Maybe? She did offer me a credit on my next purchase. Which was appreciated, but I didn't complain to get a credit...just 'cuz I was so aggravated at such foolishness. One commenter did have a good thought that perhaps the vendor assembly lines packing, with a standard size box, and whatever size the product goes in it for speedy shipment. Could be --- but if so, it's a stupid waste of resources in my opinion. But then again, the buyer pays for it.

Ok, in the mail Friday, 2 more packages arrived..one was part of the Amazon purchase where I added the tiny brush to the cart. It was a dvd set that shipped directly from Amazon. Here's how it arrived:

You can see the padded envelope size compared to the dvd size. Pretty much an appropriate shipping to keep the dvd safely while in transit. {Yes, I AM a big Martin Clunes fan!}

This package from Blitzy arrived the same day as the Amazon dvd. Again, the size of the box was appropriate to the contents. The box was full. All of the bottles were placed in sealed bags - several bottles to a bag...no danger of losing anything as the box was emptied. There was some crumpled tissue paper at the very top - 2 thin sheets.

Here are the 2 boxes side by side. You can see that the Artarama box was nearly twice the size as the fully packed Blitzy box...for one tiny brush.

I'm belaboring the point-- sorry. At least I felt a bit better after I contacted Amazon to let them know this happened. Will anything come of it? Probably not! But I got it off my chest. I hope by posting this situation on the blog, that it will make my readers aware that if getting something from an Amazon 3rd party vendor, and your ship charges look more than expected...just be sure you want that product badly enough to chance this happening. Oh yes, the ship charges from Blitzy for this very full box, were barely half as much as what was paid for the Amazon order which was the DVD & the brush!!! OK...my rant about shipping boxes is ended. :-)

DH has been gone yesterday & overnight, so Mrs. has been busy doing some much needed cleaning that doesn't get done when he is home. (he either doesn't want me to do it 'then', or he comes up with somewhere for us to adventure off. And I'm very susceptible to putting off housework!) So I have been productive at least with house chores. He should be home shortly.

Back tomorrow with a card for our Christmas Card Club, and my plans are to try to do some visiting this afternoon. Happy afternoon. Thanks for popping in, and Big Hugs.

11/27/2014

Good evening. Thanksgiving dinner is eaten, dishes are cleaned, and now it's time to get the fall decorations out of the way, and start with the Christmas look. Some of the houses in our neighborhood already have their decorations up. I applaud their initiative, but that's just a tad too early for our house. I enjoy seeing the decorations, but after about a week, I'm ready to reclaim the space for the 'normal' look. Not sure how much we'll put out this year..

Thanks for all the lovely comments on the Thanksgiving card. What wonderful people my visitors are! This is a 2nd post for today, as I didn't want this one to be part of the gratitude feeling of this morning.

Recently I saw Heather Telford (bits & pieces) use a tool (Kemper Spatter brush) in this tutorial on her blog. Checked Dick Blick, and they didn't have it. Found one at Amazon and it was around $5, and since I'm a bit spatter challenged, and since I was getting 2 other items, I added the spatter brush to the order. The brush was coming from another vendor. I was surprised at the shipping charges. The brush came Tuesday. Here's the brush:

Here's the packaging it was shipped in:

Hopefully this indicates the size of the large box this tiny brush was mailed in. Absolutely ridiculous, as it would have fit very nicely in one of the small padded mailing envelopes and not cost the whopping ship charges. It was packed with the plastic air filled fillers. (not the peanuts...the picture below shows the stuff I hope). The brush was on the top of the bubble wrap, under the 2 layers of air filling stuff. I nearly missed finding it.

The bubble wrap in the bottom was ok...there were 2 of the air filled thing-a-majigs to fill the box so the tiny brush didn't roll around. I couldn't believe the stupidity of mailing something this small in a box this huge, and charging such fees to ship. I don't usually name a business but I will on this one, as I don't think it was an Amazon problem. The contract vendor who sent me the brush was Jerry's Artarama. This is my first experience at buying from this site...you can bet it will be my last. And I'm giving some thought to complaining to Amazon about this. In future Amazon orders, I will be very careful to see where something is shipped from - if it's not directly shipped from Amazon.

Just felt I wanted to share this so that everyone else knows to watch out for this. Maybe there was a reason the huge box was used, but I sure can't think of it!!! Can't wait to try this brush though, and see if I can get spatters instead of blobs. If you aren't familiar with Heather's fantastic work, you are in for a REAL treat!

Big hugs. G'nite. (I'm behind on visiting again, so will take a blog post break while I try to catch up. Got a commitment for Sunday, and am looking for a stamp I want to use.) So bye again....

And to all my international friends: Although you may not celebrate the day as the holiday that we do here in the States, I hope that you will take a few moments to pause and think about all those blessings that you have in _your_ life for which you feel gratitude & thankfulness. We should not need a specific day to contemplate those things, but it's a good reminder when we have a holiday that celebrates them. I hope that you can spend the day with your family or someone you love.

Please check the tab at the top (Cards by Friends)for some lovely holiday cards we have received - and enjoy them with us. In our family, we have such a lot of blessings during our lifetime. One particular area for which I feel especially thankful, is that during this blogging adventure, I've gotten to know so many of you. Have enjoyed your crafting skills, and learned a bit about where you may live in the world. It's a blessing I never had considered some years ago...and I'm very grateful for it.

Today's card is dedicated to all those lovely people who visit here, leave encouraging & kind comments. I always feel so humbled by that, and even more so, when I pay a return visit and can enjoy work that amazes me with the beauty & skill of the crafter.

11/25/2014

Good afternoon.Get set to see some old fashioned country Christmas images from DeeDee's Digis. Knew that I wanted this set as soon as I saw it. One of the things I love about DeeDee's Digi images is the ability to use the image as it is, shade or fancy it up as desired, or print the outline image and color with your own preferences.
Don't forget there's a terrific Customer Appreciationsale going on through December 1st. Good chance to build up your digi stash at great prices.

Additionally, I would like to welcome DeeDee of Stamping Sunshine as my newest follower. Hope you'll take time pop over to enjoy some inspiration with her wonderful designs at her personal blog. (as well as the Design Team and Challenge cards over at DeeDee's Digis website). Okay, enough blather.

Today is the 25th, so that means Rudolph Day has opened over at Stamping for Pleasure. This is the final challenge for the year, so don't miss playing along if you have the time. Rules are simple: 2 festive cards. Easy Peasy. I did my 2 cards pretty fast.

- MFT pierced circle die, shaded edges with Memento Desert Sand. One of the angel wings got an ink smudge from my fingers. Fussy cut the wings from a copy paper test print done to check sizing, adhered to the wings - added some glittering Diamond Stickles. WoS added to the Angel's shoes, collar, sox stripes, halo & star on the dress. Mr. Snowman got similar treatment for his star, arms, hat band and vest buttons. Copic shading on the green scarf. Used Copic E40 & E41 for shading around the snowy body, to keep with a vintage feel. Usually I would use BG0000, BG000 for cool shading on the snow.

- Cheery Lynn Italian Doily cut the mat for each image.

- Background for the angel: Applied Sookwang (double sided tape) to c/s. Cut strips of various size from snippets pile. If you look closely, you'll see some pieces of past projects :-). Great way to use up some snippets. Thought it made a nice 'country quilt' look that was appropriate for each image. Some of the pieces were just card stock, but some were off cuts of spraying projects done on mixed media or watercolor paper.

Snowman: Smaller c/s snippet got the Sookwang. Was not large enough to make a card base. Decided it would work as a border in the center of the card. Which was then obscured by the doily & image! Hence the smaller strip added at the bottom, underneath the sentiment.

- Cream color seam binding colored with Copic reinkers to compliment the color of the doily. Sentiment is part of the Country Christmas set.

- Snowman card base embossed on cream card stock with a Sheena Snowfall EF after inking the EF with Memento Peanut Brittle Luxe ink. Add some Stampendous frontage over the embossing. Even though the Luxe is a pigment ink that I thought would stay wet long enough for the frantage to adhere, it didn't. Took some Versamark, sprinkled the frantage again, and heated from the underneath. Need more practice with frantage, I must confess. This time, it's covered up anyway. :-)

Off to link up at the November Rudolph Day. Then popping over to see my little buddy bear, Parsnip at the Snippets Playground Week 152- since I have lots of snippety bits on each of these cards. Would love to see you come along and play too.

11/23/2014

Good afternoon lovely Visitor. Today has been a rainy & very gray & gloomy Sunday here at our house. Requires the lamps to be turned on...it's that dark. At least I got a few 'office chores' caught up (epaid some bills, worked in the checkbook, fun things of that sort). Then I was ready to take some photos of a card that I had finished Friday night, and found out the camera battery needed to be charged. Aargh.

A big hello to a sweet new follower who has several blogs, so I'll list one and hope that I get the right blog linked. If not, just go enjoy all of them....Hello to Ellie of Just For Fun Rubber Stamps. Thanks so much for becoming a follower here, and Ellie has some inspiring work on each of her blogs that I checked. You're in for a treat.

One other thing: Do be sure to check out the Snowman Soup over at DeeDee's Digis. The Freebie time has passed (Nov 21), but it's still priced so inexpensively, that you can't pass it up. (Pssst: there's a 50% storewide sale going on too!) In the Snowman Soup set, there are precolored and outline images, along with some very seasonal sentiments.

- WoS on the cup and Snowy's scarf. Candy cane stirrer & cup design colored with some Pentel fine point markers purchased in a set from Costco. Went over these marker colors with WoS clear - and on the cup design, there was a bit of smearing. Worked ok on the cane. I did like the fact that the fine point on the pens allowed good control in a tiny space. This set was approx. in Costco and has quite a few color selections.

- Die cut with S/B Labels 40. Used a mask and Memento Summer Sky & LuLu Lavendar to create some snowbanks for Snowy's grounding. Dabbed some Stickles around for a bit of sparkle on the snow.

- S/B Labels 40 Decorative Accents cut the mat from some stash paper..looks like Mulberry paper, but is much thicker than mulberry. VOS. The white card base is covered with a piece of glossy paper that had Copic reinkers marbled over it. (see this post for how it's done & there's a link to a tutorial in the post as well.)

- Sentiment is from the set, printed out, die cut with a S/B tag label, smudged Summer Sky lightly around the edges.

11/17/2014

Welcome on a Monday afternoon, after a gloomy rainy morning; now the sun is beginning to peek out. Hope you had a lovely weekend. Ours was quiet and the temps got some colder, so we were happy to just cozy down and enjoy being inside. Did some Netflix watching, napping and both of us just generally being lazy. (well, I've gotten in the habit of that I'm afraid!). Saturday night we went out to a fish restaurant for dinner with about 8 other couples from our subdivision...that was fun - noisy too!

Help me say a big Hello to a new follower: Hazel Kinvig-Paul of My Card Attic. Thanks for joining as a new follower, Hazel. Just popped out to get the link for Hazel's blog and she has a stunning winter scene card to share today. Hope you'll find time to go check it out, make a new friend & tell her I sent you for a visit.

Here's the card for today:

- DeeDee's Bounteous Blessings image and sentiment. Usually I do some shading on the printed precolored image, but this one is so pretty, all I did was die cut with a S/B circle, add some Memento Desert Sand shading around the outside. A S/Binder scallop circle did the scant mat in a snippet of rusty orange.

- Paper Cuts circle shaped card (found while doing some straightening up last week..had a pack of various colors that turned up LOL). Used a Dots EF.

- Shimmer sheetz snippet (from another project not yet shared) was just the size to emboss with a border leaf folder. MFT Stitched Scallop die cut snippet was cut to fit at either side of the focal image, then 2 pieces joined top & bottom on each side. After I had put this on the card front, I realized I should have covered the 'joins', so the maple leaves were my creative solution to hide the separation! However, that covers up the border leaf embossing.

The precolored digis sure come in handy when one doesn't feel like doing any coloring. This one has been very lazy & laid back of late, so I'm loving these marvelously easy-to-work-with digis. Give 'em a check out, and you are sure to find something that you just have to have. There's a big selection of holiday motifs, not to mention a really cute Snowman Soup freebieavailable until November 21. You certainly won't want to miss a chance to add this one to your collection for the holiday season.

Thanks for joining me this afternoon. Thanks also for all the lovely comments on the blog make-over. I'm so pleased you like it. Kylie worked very hard getting it all set up just the way I wanted it!

Come again when you have time to visit. It's a little chilly to sit on the porch, but we could enjoy a cup of something inside where it's cozy & warm. Big Hugs.

11/15/2014

Good afternoon & welcome. How do you like the new blog Look? It's thanks to Kylie who has been working hard to create a new seasonal look here. If you like it, give Kylie a shout out & talk with her about what you might have in mind. Her link is over on the side bar too.

Today's card is one of DeeDee's Digi of the Month images. I was trying to get it finished in time to play in the challenge, but {sigh} - it didn't happen.** On the plus side, I did accomplish organizing some new dies, cleaning some stamps & getting off the desk & some general pickup. Still got snippets to store away though...from 3 surfaces! In the evenings, DH has been coming downstairs to enjoy watching Blue Bloods on Netflix. Oh do I like Tom Selleck!!! Usually DH watches his preference on another tv, then goes to bed early. It's been pleasant to have him downstairs to watch something we both like. The down side of this is he doesn't want me moving about in the room while he's watching tv. So....by the time he goes upstairs to bed, my motivation has sort of faded into lazy. But anyway......

Check out the links to DeeDee's Digis to see the newest releases, find out how you can get the digi of the month at a great price and browse all the wonderful holiday images that are available for such reasonable prices. There's also a really cute freebie available through November 21. The images come precolored or as line art, so you can choose your own colors...there's sentiments appropriate to each set and many of the sets have digi papers included. They are very easy to use to make cards or other projects. Here's my card using the Digi of the Month:

- Precolored image of Miss Moose Mix It Up was shaded with copics and some WoS. Die cut with S/B label 4, shaded while in the die. Mixing bowls were from the Mix It Up set, as was the sentiment and background paper. There are 3 pretty papers in this set.

- Background paper was embossed with a SU EF that waiting to be stored. Shaded the embossing with Tidal Pool Hero Arts Shadow ink.

- PBlack holly berries die was on the desk. Snipped it apart to add as trim.

Starform outline stickers were added around the edges for a little sparkle, and that's it! Can't get any easier to make a card than this.

Thanks for joining me and have a wonderful afternoon. If it's colder where you are this afternoon, stay cozy. It's a sunny but crisp day here where we are in Upstate South Carolina, but we're told that some rain (and possibly snow flurries) could be on the way. Big Hugs.

**A very alert blog follower caught my boo-boo about DeeDee's Digi of the Month challenge date. Thought I had read something about it ending on the 11th, but after reading the comment, rechecked & this challenge ends on Nov 30, so this one will be linked at DeeDee Digi of the Month Challenge! I think I'm just hurrying way too much. I'm either being way too lazy or rushing way too much. C'mon and get this delicious set & play along if you've got time!

11/12/2014

Good afternoon. Thanks so very much for all the kind words about the Veterans Tribute card of yesterday. I'm glad if you liked the card, even happier if it caused anyone to stop & say Thank You to a Veteran of the armed services - in ANY country!

Welcome to a new follower Linda (Lindy Lou) of Life in the Craft Lane. Thanks for joining here as a follower. Linda & I met up over at Loll's Tag Challenge...so it's a great place to meet new friends as well as enjoy some tag fun. Please do take time to surf over and say Hello to Linda.

The Twelve Tags of Christmas Challenge is still going on over at Stamping with Loll and since there are a couple things under way on the Carolina Cards' messy desk, I managed to finish up another tag.
This one was inspired by a Jill Foster piece done for Penny Black.

﻿

- tag was sponged using Archival Saffron & a large dauber. Edges were inked with Memento Peanut Brittle, then darkened with Espresso Truffle. Wiped off with a paper towel, as the Archival ink was coming off on my fingers.

- Applied Viva Décor Modeling Cream in Pearl with TCW Mini Texturized stencil, to create some dimension. Dried overnight, sponged a light coat of Saffron over the paste and wiped it off. Didn't not get the darker vintage appearance that Jill achieved using a gesso layer, which I liked better.

- Inked a portion of an Impression Obsession Music Cover a Card with Memento Rich Cocoa and stamped a few bars. Found a Christmas sentiment that would fit the space, stamped with Rich Cocoa.

- Poppy Blooming Poinsettia die cut sponged with Sepia and Vermillion Archival inks; green leaf with Olive & Library green. Center of the poinsettia was colored with a WoS orange. After assembling the flower, brushed top leaf with WoS clear. The WoS did not turn sparkly as usual, but dried with a white look. Sponged more of Vermillion over this leaf. Ditto on the green. The WoS has never done this before--hmmm. Dunno if the inked surface was still 'wet' or perhaps the 2 products don't react well together???? Something to remember next time.

- added some fibers and a twill ribbon to the top, tied with a gold cord, then frayed the cord. That's it! Hope this one meets all the criteria of the challenge, which is stamps + ink, plus two other elements which add texture and/or
dimension. Won't you come along & play in Loll's fun Tag Challenge?

Thanks for joining me this afternoon. It's about 80F outside and lovely. Hard to believe we have colder weather on the way. Ya'll have a great afternoon. Big Hugs.

11/11/2014

Good afternoon. Today is a time to say a very heartfelt Thank You to those brave men & women who have served our country and bought the freedoms which we take for granted today. So many have sacrificed their lives over the centuries in which the United States has been a sovereign nation. Too often, we forget the high cost of these freedoms & rights. At least today, we should pause & remember. Let me take this opportunity to extend my personal thanks to anyone reading this blog - who served our country or who had a loved one who did. My father, my 5 brothers, my husband, and many of our extended family members gave years of their lives in the armed services of the United States. I salute each of them and am so proud of them. It was a sacrifice for those of us who loved them as well. So here's my small tribute to those brave people.

- I Love Rubber Stamps image, stamped with Memento Gray Flannel, colored with copics and a white gel pen to enhance the stars. DH bought this stamp at a long ago stamp show so I thought it fitting to make a card for today.- Lil Inker stitched rectangle & stars dies. Computer generated sentiment.That's it for today. Thank you for visiting, and thank you for participating in our country's day to remember our Veterans. God Bless.

11/08/2014

Good evening, and back with another tag to play along with Stamping with Loll12 Tags of Christmas - Day 6.

I struggle with tags, so this is certainly taking me out of _my_ comfort zone.

Tag was gesso'd & dried; snow flake stamps inked with versamark, heat embossed with Hero Arts White EP (hard to see in the photo). DI blues sponged over the tag & wiped off the embossed flakes. Sprayed a silver waste spray* for the water droplets effect. A snowflake stencil placed and added Ranger texture paste. After that dried, added some clear glue product over the paste in a very thin line, sprinkled Martha Stewart glitter in clear & Lapis Lazuli blue. This texture is not showing well in the photo, but does a bit better IRL.

(*when I use the metallic sprays, I place the sprayer head in a clear bottle of water to clean it out, and spray until the spray head seems clear. Sometimes this 'dirties' that bottle of water. This particular cleaning resulted in a silvery-gray water so I kept it and use it in place of spraying the distress inking with the water to make the droplets look. It's between a gray & silver and is very subtle. The silvers I have are sometimes much too dark or thick looking.)

- IO Snowflake die and MBox Winter Cabin die was cut from white c/s snippets. Snipped the Winter Cabin die to fit as needed. Used some Starburst Mica water color paint to pearlize the die cuts. While a 2nd coat of Mica was drying, sprinkled some Sparkle n Sprinkle Twinkling Clouds over the paint to simulate snow. First layer of trees adhered, dimensional foam added to the top layer die (the cabin) so that it is elevated.

- Taylored Expressions Winter Set sentiments provided the snow word. Cut 4 layers of snippet mixed media paper, adhered layers together, colored with Copic B37 and WoS blue. Added Glossy Accents for shine. That's it folks. See a list of some of the supplies in the picture below. The texture paste is atop the SnS Twinkling Clouds. The tiny bottle with the skinny top is a recent purchase. The tiny metal applicator is wonderful for applying a very fine line of glue...this one has Alene's Easy Flow Glue in it.

- Used the reinker B37 to color a cream gauze ribbon, added the pearl string and silver rickrack. Finis.

Hope you like this one. It was not what I envisioned, but it's what resulted! Thanks for joining me this evening. Hope you'll find time to play along and enter a tag in Loll's fun 12 Tags of Christmas Challenge.

11/07/2014

Good evening, and Yay - the weekend is here! There's a neat 12 Tags of Christmas going on over at Stamping with Loll. As you may remember, I don't do many tags. However, Loll has been so encouraging & inspiring that I wanted to try to play along in this fun challenge. So I've been trying to work on some tags. Here is one that I finally got finished to play along on Day 5. If you enjoy Christmas themes and if you enjoy creative tags, this challenge is for you! Check out my new watermark - which was designed by Kylie. How do you like it????

purchased tag was covered with gesso, dried over night. Stamped 2 ivy images with versamark, heat embossed with Rangers Christmas green (which is really a combination of green & some red - looks pretty when it's heated). After heat embossing, used DI Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters and Pine Needles to sponge over the tag, then wiped off around the embossed areas. Sprayed with a gold spray and let dry.

- Penny Black Holly Berries die was cut from a snippet front of a generic card sent by the company where we purchased our vehicles. This company always sends us birthday cards & Christmas cards. The backside of the front piece was white, hmmm...I can die cut that! Colored the white with Wink of Luna pens, and trimmed the die to fit where needed. Might go back and add some Viva Red Pearl to those berries since they don't show up well on the die cut.

- Elizabeth Craft sentiment die, from the same waste white card snippet, colored with Copic R29, then WoStella red pen. There is a red ribbon behind the focal image. Red & green cording with a gold ribbon were threaded through the top of the die, and a jeweled brad covers the hole. That's it folks.

Linking this tag to Loll's Twelve Days of Christmas Tags, Day 5. I have another tag in process, so I hope I can get another one finished in time to play another day. This Challenge is open until November 16. Hope you'll check out this challenge and join in.

Here's a picture of some of the products I used:

Just checked to see that the Snippets Playground is still open for a few hours remaining in Week 149 - so off to say hello to Parsnip and all the Snippeeters. Folks, you still have a few hours to play here.

Thanks for joining me this evening, and I'm hoping you are all set for a great weekend. Big Hugs.

11/06/2014

Good morning. Thanks for stopping in for a visit on a gloomy drizzly Thursday morning. Let's start the visit with a welcome to 2 new lovely followers:

Charlene of Expresstions of me! and Linda of Lovely Linda's Craft Central. I think you'd certainly enjoy taking a few minutes to pop by and say Hello to these very talented ladies and at the same time enjoy a stroll through some inspiring posts! Thanks, Charlene and Linda for taking time to become followers & leave comments. I love making new friends - and it's fascinating to know that my friends live all over the world. As I've said before, to me - that's the most fun part about this blog hobby.

Now, on to the card for today. Took me forever to get it finished, and I just don't know why, because it was an easy card to assemble. These digi files are so very easy to use and make a quick card if you're pressed for time. But every day when I'd say 'Today I'll finish it', something would get in the way. So here goes!

- DeeDee's precolored digi Pilgrim Owls were printed twice. One set was die cut with S/B Labels 4 Gold, sponged with DI Tea Dye and Spiced Marmalade. Set #2 shaded with some copics and WoS for a little glitz, then fussy cut, shaped a bit, then adhered to Set #1 on the label.

- Background papers were from an 8x8 G45 Autumn pack, and the pumpkin border was the reverse side of the green paper. Seemed a bit busy for a background for these cute little pilgrim. A S/Binder Curved bracket die cut each side of the border.

- There are some gold Starform sticker leaves over this border, but don't seem to show well in the photo. The lower right pumpkins were also a Starform sticker outline. Adhered the sticker outline to Sookwang (double sided tape) applied over a snippet of c/s, and then used various shades of Ritz glitter on the sections to create some shading.

- PBlack Words of Gratitude sentiment die cut from 3 layers of white snippets. After gluing together, used a gold Pentel pen to color. Now check out the little purple corner candees....these were sent recently by my sweet child, Brenda, of Friends Craftin' with Friends. Brenda made a bunch of candees by melting pony beads. Wasn't she kind to send me some, since I've not tried that as yet. Thanks, Brenda for being such a good friend. (BTW, Brenda & I have never met face-to-face. She was one of the first crafters I met in Blogland, and we share so much in common - aside from age! - that we decided she must be my 'other child'. Friendships are a treasure).

DeeDee's Digis is sponsoring Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge Blog this week (Nov 5th - Nov 11th) and the challenge is Creative Corners. I rarely think to use decorative corners and this will get me out of my comfort zone. Also there's an awfully cute festive digi available for the November Challenge & you can find out how easy it is to collect this holiday image if you follow the links. Hope you will come play at Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge and you will have a chance to win a $10.00 gift code from Deedee's Digis. Which would be AWESOME since she just added more cute items to the store....check them out in the Newest Releases Section. The DT have already posted some adorable cards to start the MoJo. (which if you're like I've been lately, really needs a jumpstart!). I love the newest designs, so will have to get myself jump-started and get over this 'slump'.

Second, there is a new freebie that has been added to the shop. "Checked Recipe Cards" is now available for you in the "Try Before You Buy" area of the shop. For those who do lots of baking this time of year, especially gift items, so these might be helpful to have around. This set also coordinates well with this month's featured set -- "Mix it Up," and might be a fun addition to your challenge creations this month. Enjoy! ;-)

Also do be sure to check out the Cards by Friends section at the top of this post to see another cute Halloween card - that came along with the Candees to cheer us for Halloween.

OK, that's it...a long post. Thanks for joining me this morning. We're out of the house again today, as soon as I get this post finished and get ready to be seen in public. So you have a wonderful day, and remember...only one more day until the weekend. My, how 2014 has flashed by. Come again soon...Big Hugs

Edit: One of my sweet blog buddies advised this could play in the current November Challenge #5 going on at Scrapy Land. (Thanks Donna). You might want to give a check because if you're using product brands that Scrapy Land markets, your card could be eligible to enter. I saw some terrifically gorgeous cards when I dashed over to link up.

11/02/2014

Hello again. As promised, I'm back with another post. First, let me say a big Hello to Miss Kylie, who is my newest follower. I found Kylie's blog over at Stamping with Loll. Kylie had done a nice watermark for Loll, and Loll shared her link. I contacted Kylie with the idea of doing one for me, and in the process, am making a new friend. Did you see the lovely P Hover button when you saw the Christmas Club post this morning? Well Miss Kylie got that working for me! If you visit Kylie's beautiful blog, she has a block on the upper right sidebar with info about watermarks, etc. So you might want to give a look-see if you are interested in a personalized watermark & enjoy some lovely cards in the process. Big Thank You to Kylie :-).

OK, we were expecting some rain last week, (didn't really happen, just a drizzle), so I decided I best take a couple of snaps around the neighborhood. It's sort of what we see from our front porch. Thought I'd share them here for anyone who loves the colors of Fall.

Normally our area would have been a blaze of colors like shown in the above pictures. As seen, there are still many trees that have not changed colors. Our dogwoods shown in the 2nd picture, are just beginning to change leaf color. The magnolia leaves turn a sort of dull bronze-brown. With all the wind we've had today, most of the leaves are now on the ground. The pretty red maple looks very bare. It's 11 years old, not growing very fast. Our pretty October Glory maple that got so tall in just a few years, was taken down a few months ago. Mr. was concerned that the roots were coming to the ground surface, causing mowing problems. Additionally, the tree was growing much faster than we expected - to be sited where it was. He wanted it gone & I am missing it. But was probably for the best. We aren't famous for siting our trees & plants as well as we should.

Hope you enjoyed seeing a little look at the area where I am blessed to live. I surely am not enjoying adjusting to the time change. I wish the folks who make these time decisions, would just leave the time alone, at whatever is chosen. I am so thankful I don't have to get up for work...when I did, I was invariably late or an hour early when the time changed. Never failed!

Also hope that your day was just grand. Ours was quiet; I stayed inside while Mr. braved the wind to walk his two excursions. He's been following the cardiologist's advice pretty well, with the daily walking. I do admire that. (if I weren't so lazy, I'd do it too!). G'd evenin'.

Good afternoon, and Happy first Sunday in November to all of you lovely readers. I hope everyone remembered to set the clocks back an hour here in the USA. It's very pretty - but much colder & quite windy - in Upstate South Carolina today, . Yesterday morning we even had SNOW! Now I slept through it, so it's only hearsay on my part. DH assured me that he saw it on the house roofs as he was walking, & Bro #1 (who lives down the street), said he saw it laying in the yard. I'm just as happy to have been asleep while it happened.

I've been playing with some background techniques while I've been MIA around here...just generally being slothful. Had seen this pretty card done by Maxine, and had been wanting to try making a gesso'd tissue paper background. Now my results look nothing like Maxine's, but it was fun. (and will be trying again to achieve such a pretty look as Maxine did). So here goes with the Christmas Club Snowmen card:

Now for the background mat: Gesso over Mixed Media c.s (#98 Canson), let dry. Gesso another coat, and crumpled snippets of blue tissue paper (saved from package wrappings from online orders). Tore these pieces and placed around the wet gesso, let that dry. Gesso'd over the top of the tissue, dry, then used Dylusions sprays in Bubble Gum, Teal and After Midnight. Some of these sprays were mixed with the White Linen, some just diluted with water. None were used full strength. Lindy's starburst sprayed over the partially dried Dylusions layer. This was done over a TCW stencil, but it's not showing very well. Maxine's stenciling showed up much prettier than this one did, but I still liked the result achieved. When testing papers for matting for these snowboys, tried the look of the tissue experiment, decided I liked it. Oh yes, forgot to say, that after drying, the edges of the tissue & paper were trimmed, as the tissue looks very raggedy when applied. I didn't try to keep a straight edge to the work in progress. It's easy to trim once the layers have dried.

﻿

Lower right corner showing texture

Top left, texture and card die detail

I hope you'll have time to take a look at my team members - list is posted on the sidebar. It's such fun to see each members' interpretation of the week's challenge. I'll be back later with some pictures of the fall in our neighborhood.

Since there's a few snippets on this card, and since I've not visited the Snippets Playground for a while, I'm off over the pond to see my little friend Parsnip, who guards the gates of the Playground for the Snippeteeers & week 149. Ya'll c'mon if you have time.

Thanks for stopping to visit. I will try to do better about more frequent posting. Dunno why I've gotten so lazy of late...just don't seem in the mood to accomplish very much..but as they say: It is what it is! Ya'll come back when you can. Big Hugs.